Career-induced stress, in one form or another, may be inevitable, but burnout does not have to be. To avoid burnout one must first understand what it entails. According to Verywell Mind, “Burnout is a reaction to prolonged or chronic job stress and is characterized by three main dimensions: exhaustion, cynicism (less identification with the job), and feelings of reduced professional ability.” While routine stress makes coping and handling day-to-day responsibilities challenging, burnout erodes one’s willingness to even confront such challenges.

Learn how to identify the three primary signs of burnout:

Exhaustion – You may feel tired, depleted, and like you’re running on fumes. Exhaustion on its own, though, won’t necessarily lead to burnout.

Cynicism – Unresolved exhaustion will lead to irritability, detachment, and carelessness, typically and eventually resulting in an increase in mistakes.

Inefficacy – Unsurprisingly, as mistakes stack up, it may feel increasingly challenging, if not helpless, to get back on track. Your productivity may continue to slide, and you may feel ineffective or even incompetent.

12 Stages of Burnout

Psychologists Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North have identified 12 stages of burnout, increasing in severity. If you are experiencing the above signs (exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy), it may be helpful to consider where you may fall along the spectrum:

1)      Compulsion to prove oneself (excessive ambition)

2)      Working harder

3)      Neglecting own needs

4)      Displacement of conflicts and needs

5)      No longer any time for non-work-related needs

6)      Increasing denial of the problem, decreasing flexibility of thought/behavior

7)      Withdrawal, lack of direction, cynicism

8)      Behavioral changes/psychological reactions

9)      Depersonalization: loss of contact with self and own needs

10)   Inner emptiness, anxiety, addictive behavior

11)   Increasing feeling of meaninglessness and lack of interest

12)   Physical exhaustion that can be life-threatening

What are some actionable steps you can take for avoiding burnout?

1)      Prioritize your health. This may seem like it should be obvious, but it’s not. For those suffering from burnout, compromising on maintaining personal health and letting things slide are often indicative of severe exhaustion. If health is not prioritized, then as the signs of burnout compound, less energy is available to commit to all around well-being. Get enough sleep. Drink water. Exercise. Eat healthy. Pray or meditate. Connect with loved ones. Get outside. All of these contribute to sound health – don’t neglect them. Make a daily checklist if you have to. The better your overall health is, the more resilient you will be, and therefore more capable you will be of weathering the storm of stress and navigating away from the hurricane that is burnout.

2)      Add order to your day. With burnout, you can often feel like you’re spinning out of control or losing control. To counteract those feelings of chaos, try to add more order to your work and to your workspace. Perhaps you can start by better organizing your time. Create an itinerary for the week and for each day. Revisit your goals (link to previous blog post about goals? Couldn’t find it on the website…) often and consider how your tasks correspond to those goals. Decide in advance how much time you would like to expend for certain tasks. Plan your tasks based on how your energy ebbs and flows throughout the day. Consider adding more order to your workspace, also. Ensure every single thing has a designated place. Ultimately, order begets peace, and peace begets resilience, which, like maintaining your health, will make you more capable of avoiding burnout.

3)      Take breaks + rest. Punctuate your work day with breaks that you can look forward to. Giving yourself some distance from the stress will provide much needed relief if you are at risk of burnout or are already experiencing burnout. If you are not able to recharge, you will become more deeply entrenched in the exhaustion and feelings of running on empty. Taking breaks does not mean you are giving up, of course, but stepping away for a moment of reflection on your purpose and the point of your work in the first place.

4)      Join Our Burnout or Churn Out Workshop! Burnout or Churn Out is designed to help individuals leverage their strength, overcome stress and avoid burnout. This three-hour virtual lunch & learn will be hosted on October 1st from 1 – 4 EST. This event will be 100% virtual to ensure safe social distancing. This workshop is designed to help individuals leverage the power of personality type to identify how they react to stress, ways to handle stress reactions, overcome stress, and avoid burnout to achieve their goals. Participants will leave with a list of key stressors, coping techniques, and action items to implement at work and at home to overcome existing stress and avoid new stress in the future.

 

Participants will:

-Complete the MBTI Assessment online in advance

-Receive a copy of their MBTI Stress Management Report and supporting workshop materials

-Participate in group and individual activities surrounding personality type, stress, and coping strategies

-Leave feeling empowered to manage and conquer the stress in their lives

 

This workshop is co-presented by Certified MBTI® Practitioner Holly Wilbanks, Principal of The Wilbanks Consulting Group, who specializes in strategic talent management and career coaching. Holly will present an overview of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®), and the research supporting the link between personality type and stress. The second presenter, Dr. Nahille Natour of Inspiring Balance, is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, Certified MBTI® Practitioner, and Obstetrician/Gynecologist. Nahille was inspired to coach after her own struggle with physician burnout and will provide insight based on her personal and professional experiences.  

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Without prioritizing these categories, burnout becomes a vicious cycle. The more exhausted you become, the less energy you have to expend, the more careless you become, the more ineffective you perceive yourself to be, and so on. The cycle can be broken, and your well-being depends on it. Let us help you, contact us today to start your career exploration!

- Career Consultant, Sarah Stasny,